Renaissance inquisitors : Dominican inquisitors and inquisitorial districts in Northern Italy, 1474-1527 / / by Michael Tavuzzi.

• Superior document: Studies in the history of Christian traditions, v. 134
• Author: Tavuzzi, Michael M.
• Year of Publication: 2007
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in the history of Christian traditions ; v. 134.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (304 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

During the Renaissance there was no centralized Inquisition in northern Italy until Pope Paul III founded the Roman Inquisition in 1542, but there was a dense network of autonomous papal inquisitors. Based on extensive archival research, this study investigates the life of the Dominican friars from whom these inquisitors were mostly drawn. It focuses on a selection of hitherto almost unknown but representative inquisitors to cast new light on their formation, appointment and careers, as well as their principal pursuits - the prosecution of heretics, especially Waldensians and Judaizers, and, most of all, the hunting of witches, for it was at its most intense in northern Italy during the Renaissance, over a century before reaching its peak in Northern Europe.

Table of Contents

Inquisitors and inquisitorial districts -- Conventuals and observants -- Administrators, courtiers, and academics -- Surveillants of minorities -- Witch-hunters.